Bandukwala, Kotler run to wins in Varsity races

By Michael Newman

Naperville, Ill – By the time that the Girls Varsity runners left the stadium back on the course half way through the race, Downers Grove North’s team had a lock on the Girls team title. For North’s Boys team, they had work to do taking the team lead at the two-mile mark of the race.

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Both teams were the top ranked teams at the Naperville Twilight Invitational Wednesday Night held on Naperville North’s campus course. Both teams came away the Varsity overall titles.

Mia Kotler of Latin School had the lead from the start opening up a 16 second lead at two miles on Liv Phillips of Naperville Central. Phillips closed the gap in the final mile, but it was too big of a margin for the Naperville Central runner to make up. Kotler ran 17:01.5 to win by more than 11 seconds ahead of Phillips.

Defending state champion Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central took the lead just before the halfway point of the race. He had to move on the track in the final 500 meters to capture the individual win holding off Will Kozlowski of Lane Tech and Zac Close of Neuqua Valley.

The race was eerily similar to the Red Devil Invitational a month ago at Katherine Legge Memorial as Kotler took the lead early on Phillips and never let it go. She won that race by 20 seconds. Phillips was closer in the first mile of the race as Kotler went through the first mile in 5:33 with Phillips six seconds behind in 5:39. Julie Piot of Naperville North was in between the two runners passing the first mile in 5:36.

McKenzie Willard and Lily Eddington of Downers Grove North, Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Shania Tandon of Naperville North had separated themselves from the rest of the field and just six seconds behind Phillips.

The places did not change that much in the rest of the race after Kotler and Phillips. Eddington made a strong move in the final 200-meters of the race catching Piot at the line to finish third. Both runners were timed in 17:37.9. Willard was next in fifth timed at 17:52.4. Poglitsch held off Tandon in the final stretch of the race as the two finished sixth and seventh. Poglitsch was timed in 17:55.5, Tandon in 17:55.6. Maya Ledesma of Minooka led the next pack running 18:09.3 to finish eighth.

This was only the third race for Kotler this season. Her race in this meet showed she was ready for the three state series meets.

“I was just so happy just to be here. It was fun,” Kotler said. She missed most of last fall’s cross country season due to injury but raced in the state series. “Not racing at state track last spring was hard. All I could do is keep my head up and focused on this fall’s racing.”

#4 Downers Grove North led the entire race scoring 37 points to capture their first team title in this meet. The Trojans had three runners in the top ten led by Eddington, Willard, and Sarah Paul in 10th. Alayna Todnem finished in 11th and Ava Gilley placed 13th to round out their team’s top five. Their split on those runners was 46 seconds.

#7 Naperville North rebounded from their race two weeks prior at the Griak Invitational to finish second on their home course with 103 points. The Huskies were more aggressive in the first mile with Piot along with Shania Tandon and Rianna Tandon in the top 15. The rest of the runners for them in this race moved up in the second half of the race. Riana Tandon followed Piot and her sister as the third runner for the Huskies as she finished 12th overall. Emma Berres led the next pack that had a seven runner split of just 30 seconds. Teams were allowed to run 10 runners in the Varsity race. Berres ran 19:05 to finish 41st. Annika Lovisa was the team’s fifth runner running 19:15 to place 45th. The gap between the first three runners and the rest of the team was 42 seconds.

Phillips finishing second led #5 Naperville Central to a third-place finish with 123 points. Abby Mogg (18th), Ava Hendren (20th), and Lola Satre-Morales (23rd) were separated by 10 seconds as the team’s second through fourth runners. Brynn Miller was the team’s fifth runner finishing 71st.The split from Mogg to Miller in this race was 64 seconds.

This seemed to be an opening Rustbuster type of a race for Downers Grove North in the Boys race. The majority of the team had not raced since the First to the Finish race in Peoria on September 9. The Trojans were also coming off a session of tough workouts focusing on later in the season and beyond heading into this meet.

Their second “opening race” of the season used the same strategy that they used in August at Neuqua Valley building their pace throughout the race. North were without their #2 runner Caden Weber who had a slight injury and was not raced in this meet.

Bandukwala did not have his best races the previous two weeks finishing 14th at the Richard Spring Invitational and then 15th at Palatine 11 days before.

“I was just not mentally tough in those two races,” Bandukwala said after the race. “Tonight, I just wanted to get back to a strong mental state. I was weak in the last two races. I was not happy at Palatine. I am glad I got my second chance here.”

It was a matter of Bandukwala countering the moves that Kozlowski and Close were making. The final 400-meters of the race were run inside the Naperville North stadium. Bandukwala used the track to make his move to run 14:51 to secure the win. Kozlowski and Close fought for second-place in the final inches of the race both diving for the finish line. Kozlowski had the edge 14:55.3-14:55.4 ahead of Close.

Robert Glenn of Neuqua Valley ran his best race of his season so far running 14:57.8 to finish fourth ahead of Thomas Czerwinski of Plainfield North who ran 14:59.8 to just finish ahead of his teammate Owen Stahl who ran 15:02.4 to finish sixth.

Habtamu Epley of Homewood-Flossmoor ran in this race last year placing 20. Wednesday’s race was a break through as he ran 15:12 to finish seventh. Ryan Eddington and Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North finished together running 15:14 placed eighth and ninth. Austin Brown of Metea Valley and Josh Poeschel of Downers Grove South both ran 15:21 finishing tenth and eleventh.

Illinois #1 Downers Grove North scored 81 points to repeat as team champions in this meet. The Trojans had a six second split behind Eddington and Schroder led by Zach Bender, Phillip Cupial, and Will Surratt finishing between 22nd and 24th places. The team’s overall split was still just 29 seconds in this race.

#5 Plainfield North scored 104 points to finish second behind the top ten finishes from Czerwinski and Stahl. Quinn Davis (14th), Gavin Hall (41st), and Aidan Connors (43rd) rounded out their top five runners. The top five split was 58 seconds. Hall and Davis ran the same time (15:57). The split between Davis and Hall in this race was 30 seconds.

#6 Oak Park-River Forest was just three points behind Plainfield North as they scored 107 points to finish third. The Huskies were without their top runner Finn Kelly in this race. Oak Park did have an eight second split between their top four runners including Lewis O’Connor, Liam O’Connor, Michael Michelotti, and Daniel Johnson finishing between 17th through 20th. Mariano Escobedo was the team’s fifth runner placing 38th. The Huskies top five split in this race was 29 seconds.

#13 Naperville Central finished fourth with 156 points ahead of #9 Neuqua Valley by seven points. The Wildcats scored 163 points.